A Carroll County jury found Michael Taylor guilty of trafficking in cocaine, OCGA § 16-13-31 a, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, OCGA § 16-11-106 b 5. He appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial, contending the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions and the trial court erred both by denying his motion to suppress and by admitting hearsay testimony at trial. Finding no reversible error, we affirm. 1. Taylor contends the evidence he possessed the drugs found in the car he was driving was insufficient to support his trafficking conviction. When a criminal defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his or her conviction, “the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Citation omitted; emphasis in original. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U. S. 307, 318-319 III B 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979. The jury, not this Court, resolves conflicts in the testimony, weighs the evidence, and draws reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts. Id. “As long as there is some competent evidence, even though contradicted, to support each fact necessary to make out the State’s case, the jury’s verdict will be upheld.” Citation and punctuation omitted. Miller v. State , 273 Ga. 831, 832 546 SE2d 524 2001. Viewed in this light, the record reveals the following facts.
On July 28, 1998, deputies with the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department were engaged in “Operation Snap and Strap,” stopping cars along Interstate 20 if the occupants were not complying with the seatbelt law. The deputies followed and stopped a black Ford Bronco with Mississippi tags because the passenger was not wearing his seatbelt. The deputy asked Taylor, the driver, to step to the back of the car. Taylor did not have his driver’s license and was extremely nervous about being stopped. Even after the deputy said he intended to cite only the passenger, Roosevelt Dodson, Taylor remained unusually agitated. This aroused the deputy’s suspicions, so he asked Taylor who owned the car, where he and his passenger had been, and where they were going. The deputy then asked Dodson these same questions and got a conflicting story. Taylor and Dodson disagreed about how long they had been traveling together and were confused about whether they had helped Taylor’s sister move to Atlanta or whether it had been Dodson’s male cousin. Further, although Taylor claimed they had been in the state for a week, there was no luggage in the car. The deputy asked Dodson, who claimed to have borrowed the car from his mother, whether any guns or drugs were in it. He responded: “No.” The deputy then asked for permission to search the car, and Dodson agreed. Both Dodson and Taylor stood to the side of the road with another deputy while the first deputy searched the car. During the search, Dodson and Taylor became increasingly agitated, “fidgeting” and looking frantically at the car and at each other. The deputies found a .40 caliber pistol beneath the driver’s seat and 572 grams of 48 pure cocaine stashed inside a hole where a stereo speaker had been. Dodson and Taylor were later interviewed by a narcotics agent. The agent testified both men gave statements that were internally inconsistent and that conflicted with each other. Dodson testified at trial, admitted the pistol was his, and admitted entering an Alford 1 plea to the crimes charged, but denied possessing the cocaine.
